Harper taps Lawrence Cannon for coveted Paris posting

Prime Minister Harper has selected an ex-senior cabinet minister — Lawrence Cannon — as Canada’s next ambassador to France. The post is a coveted position in Canada’s foreign service.

Cannon, 64, has an extensive — and varied — political background. He was a Liberal member of Quebec’s National Assembly from 1985 through 1994, culminating his provincial career as minister for communications. He worked in the private sector from 1994 to 2001 before returning to politics — this time at the municipal level as a Gatineau councillor.

The fact Cannon had been a Liberal who was active at both the provincial and federal levels made it a considerable coup for Stephen Harper when he recruited him to serve as his deputy chief of staff and Quebec lieutenant in the opposition leader’s office.

Harper’s move paid off when, in the general election of 2006, Cannon captured the Gatineau-area riding of Pontiac, a long-time Liberal stronghold. Cannon was immediately rewarded with a cabinet post — transport, infrastructure and communities. Following the 2008 election he was appointed minister of foreign affairs.

Since losing his seat to NDP candidate Mathieu Ravignat in the orange tide that swept Quebec in the 2011 election, Cannon has worked as a senior adviser in the Ottawa office of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.

Cannon is a fluently bilingual, experienced politician who by most accounts acquitted himself well in the foreign affairs portfolio.

Cannon was a Red Tory; when he did run into political problems, these were usually associated with his carrying out harder-line Conservative positions that ran afoul of Canadian laws or procedures. For example, his handling of the Omar Khadr file; his refusal to follow the traditional Canadian approach to ask for the commuting of the death sentence for Canadian Ronald Smith who was, at the time, on death row in Montana for more than 25 years; his refusal to provide an emergency passport for Abousfian Abdelrazik and failure to observe guidelines established by his own department (a $3-million malfeasance suit against Cannon is still pending).

There was also the Afghan detainees file, which saw the minister deny senior diplomat Richard Colvin’s claims that Afghan prisoners transferred from the Canadian Forces to the Afghan police were tortured. Interestingly, Cannon and Colvin will now be colleagues at Foreign Affairs.

Lawrence Cannon is not the first former politician to be appointed by PM Harper to key posts abroad. Former Manitoba premier Gary Doer is currently serving as ambassador to the United States while former BC premier Gordon Campbell is Canada’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.